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Anti-Virus

Archive: 10 posts

Anti-VirusTomo_009
Become the new anti-virus software installed on a system almost destroyed by a powerful virus. Survive through sections of the system taken over by the virus and take on the source directly.
all
Ok so this is my first level in a very very long time. The level is very geometric in design, I'm not going to say it's the most visually amazing level ever. But it fits the theme I think. I also used a lot of lighting "effects" during the level so that it at least has some visual interest.

The level itself isn't really all that long, although it did almost fill the thermometer, the final boss took a lot of space. It basically involves 3 challenge sections and bridging sections in-between.

The boss took me about as long to build as the rest of the level did, it's a very difficult fight but each phase has a simple strategy you can use to make the fight a fair bit easier.

There are also a few secrets (though I use the term lightly) to be found if that's something you enjoy.

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3458/aphotohhlk.jpg
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/1816/aphotoh9t.jpg
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/2268/aphotodsa.jpg
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4576/aphotot5jad.jpg

Anyway, if you play it make sure to give me feedback, I really want to improve my level design and building skills. If you notice any problems or things you think just shouldn't happen, tell me so I can attempt to fix them. Thanks!		2009-12-15 01:13:00

Author:
Tomo009
Posts: 274

If you have a USB key you take the pictures from the PS3 and put it in your PC. From there you can upload them on the internet and link it here.

.		2009-12-15 02:19:00

Author:
RangerZero
Posts: 3901

If you have a USB key you take the pictures from the PS3 and put it in your PC. From there you can upload them on the internet and link it here.

.
That would be the obvious way wouldn't it, put up some horrible quality pics now.		2009-12-15 05:40:00

Author:
Tomo009
Posts: 274

OK i played it, it looked good but there was just one problem, the spawning block part is very hard and theres not enough checkpoints too make it at least acceptable, i realized this when i wanted to rip my hairs out
so i guess yoou could fix it with more checkpoints or by making the blocks spawning time slower between each other so you had more time to go through them
gave it 3 stars because it looked good but it was too frustrating

for F4F please do my Crazy pollo 3 level		2009-12-18 04:06:00

Author:
Racroz
Posts: 406

OK i played it, it looked good but there was just one problem, the spawning block part is very hard and theres not enough checkpoints too make it at least acceptable, i realized this when i wanted to rip my hairs out
so i guess yoou could fix it with more checkpoints or by making the blocks spawning time slower between each other so you had more time to go through them
gave it 3 stars because it looked good but it was too frustrating

for F4F please do my Crazy pollo 3 level

Hmm guess I could slow it down, any part in particular? The first or second section, you've nearly made it to the boss already.

I'll check out your level in a while.

EDIT: Ok, I made the block emitting section SIGNIFIGANTLY easier. The first section is stupidly easy, although I think the second section may not really be as it's now harder to tell where there are blocks and you right get one spawning above you that you weren't expecting due to the slow spawn speed.

EDIT2: Oh and I also added a new checkpoint in the first section, I think I'll add one in the second section 2 now, in fact I'm going to make the spawn locations way easier to notice I'll republish again in a sec.

EDIT3!!!!: OK, now the whole path to the boss should be pretty easy, if you are having troubles I have no idea what's going on. The main reason I've made it so much easier is because the focus of this level is the boss fight at the end, the fight WILL still be difficult, but there are strategies (der it's a boss) for each phase that should be easy enough to figure out by observation. Or you can just run in randomly and eventually get him down.		2009-12-18 07:26:00

Author:
Tomo009
Posts: 274

Ok, just got done playing this. First off... this level is REALLY difficult! I'm going to try to give feedback with that in mind.

There are many nicely executed ideas in this level. Loved the spawning blocks that rotate around the jump zones. Very cool idea, and works nicely.

Rising elevator - I also liked this part, but one issue is that once you die you tend to die over and over again - since you're spawning on top of the obstacles. I probably would have made this part slightly easier and had the player start from the bottom each time.

Spawning and falling blocks section - I found it difficult to discern the pattern to walk through on one of the areas. If you don't want the area to feel cheap, you may want to make a more obvious pattern to run through. Generally, even if a level is hard I judge "cheapness" by whether I felt I could have seen a way to survive on the first run through - even if I died many times. Something to think about on future levels.

Plasma boss - I'm not sure what I did to make the paintinators appear.

Aesthetics - There was probably too much VR material - maybe try in the future to accent the VR material with other material.

All-in-all I think it's a really cool, yet highly difficult, level that won't appeal to many casual players. This kind of level definately has a niche audience. However, I think it was well done.		2009-12-28 03:18:00

Author:
CCubbage
Posts: 4430

Visuals: Seemed very bland at first, and then shortly into the level they become pretty nice. I really liked the way the emitters looked especially when the pieces disintegrated., they gave it a really cool atmosphere. I also liked how you had short periods of dark contrasted with periods of color. It was especially nice that my character was always black, and the rest of the level was so colorful. I especially liked some of the blinking light arrangements. The boss fight was very eye-catching, I thought that was great as well.

Gameplay: My biggest complaint about gameplay would be on the first rising platform. There are points where if you die, you constantly will die and respawn right into another death... over and over again. It was pretty boring just watching the platform rise and not playing it. Otherwise, the gameplay seemed pretty smooth. The level is pretty short, but it's pretty hard as well, adding quite a bit of playtime into the short level. Ah, I just got to the boss. Am I supposed to have a Paintinator here? It looks like I'm supposed to have a Paintinator but I don't have anything. I'll restart and do it again. Okay, same problem. Maybe I'm just a noob, but there's nothing I can do against the boss. I'll finish it if you give me a hint what to do .

Story: Story seemed pretty cool, and the visuals of the level fit the story, but I didn't feel like I was cleansing the machine at all. I felt more like I was escaping, or hunting a relic of some kind. Maybe if you added a little more Paintinator it might have fit the story a little better.

Score and Rank: Could Not Finish.
Rating: Four Stars.
Tag: Tricky.

If you get a chance, could you return the F4F? Thanks a lot, I just published it yesterday!		2009-12-28 11:41:00

Author:
Lieufa
Posts: 62

Hiya, thanks for the feedback you provided, I'm here to return the favour.

I went through the level two times, and I have to admit I had to give up in frustration the first time around, since I had no idea what to do at the boss... but I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning.

The concept itself I think is brilliant, just the level description sets you in the mood without much need of other story elements. The visual elements you picked also match the Tron-esque style that you'd expect from a virus-busting Sackboy, and the level is genuinely fun, as long as the player does exactly what he's supposed to do. The problem is, players like exploring, moving around and - in general - not behaving as a program. With this in mind, I think some sections need attention because they either don't allow an inch of room for failure or are outright impossible to do without dying and thus frustration.

The first part with the elevator and the "space invaders" is a good idea to get the players in the mood for some virus hunting, but the two problems I saw with this is they aren't actually destroyed, you just pass them by, and the fact that if you die at a bad time or spot, you're likely to die a lot more times as soon as you respawn. At one point I had to wait 7 respawns before I could regain control of my Sackboy after dying, the virii just kept instantly killing me as I came out of the checkpoint. Two ways to remedy this could be to either slow down the speed at which the elevator is ascending or - better yet - reduce the size of the invaders. As for making them die, adding a magnetic key to the elevator and creature brains connected to mag switches to the invaders could ensure that they are exterminated once the player on the elevator passes them successfully.

The worm/trojan sequence was by far the best in the level. I liked how you could stand in the way of spawning blocks to safely pass them, and the platforming elements were very well thought out. I'd personally have liked to see more like that in the level.

The boss is a very complex one, and the hours of work you put into it shows, plus I now know how difficult it is to fine tune a boss battle with multiple phases. The problem here however is that the boss battle itself is cruelly unforgiving, and virtually impossible to complete without dying. The idea that you have to survive for a given time to have the paintinators spawn is a good one, but you should hint at this in the chat bubbles leading up to the boss at least, since it's something not many will guess by themselves, and there's nothing more frustrating than getting shot at and killed repeatedly with no means to fight back. Also, once the paintinators have spawned the horizontally flying plasma balls combined with the firewalls and the diagonally flying plasma attacks from the boss make for some situations where you simply cannot survive, no matter what you do. Perhaps you should change it so only two can be active at the same time, but at any rate lowering the size of the horizontal plasma attacks and reducing the size and speed of the balls themselves would already make a world of difference, they are just too unforgiving when the firewall is at the center, you have no time to jump high enough after they appear, and even if you do, you're likely to die to a diagonal projectile from the boss.

As for visuals, I think the VR mats used alone are becoming too clich? and boring, you should try mixing it up with some other material (perhaps stickered with colours that match the given section in the level) to improve the overall aesthetics. Also, the parts where you walk in pitch black didn't make too much sense to me, they could feature some flickering lights or something to spice them up.

All in all, I liked the concept a lot and the second section is genuinely great and fun, but some cheesy (and inevitable) deaths keep the level from being entertaining throughout. I hope you'll rework some of them to make the player feel like in control. For now, I'd rate it: :star::star::star:

Cheers and good luck with your next projects as well!		2009-12-31 13:41:00

Author:
sny
Posts: 144

As I play....

The elevator seems like a good idea, but one death kept me respawning to instant death for about 20 seconds. I barely felt like I got to play that part.

The spawning blocks... most of it I really liked. The bits with the "rotating" pieces were really well thought out. One thing, the second race gate - as soon as it opens, you can just walk a few seconds back to the previous finish line. Maybe put something to block access to that?

Big plasma boss... I read that you need to survive for a length of time to get the paintinator... I couldn't seem to survive that long and couldn't progress any further. Would have been cool to see what else the level had.

The overall look... VR has been done to death.... but it was a decent job mixing it with the blacked out sections. Really good job accentuating it with lights.

Good stuff dude.		2010-01-02 05:31:00

Author:
mr Radical 5601
Posts: 515

Thanks everyone, I've been interstate a little while which is why I've been missing, I'll be back tomorrow night.

Seems people still find a lot difficult, I know about that elevator, I will definitely try to improve it somehow, probably make it easier with the checkpoint at the bottom, though I don't think people like waiting for the platform to come back down to them. I'll also give some indication of the first part of the boss as it seems multiple people have had trouble figuring out you just have to survive. I may also slow down the attack patterns a bit but it is meant to be difficult.

Thanks for the feedback everyone and I'll get to your F4F soon Lieufa.		2010-01-02 08:45:00

Author:
Tomo009
Posts: 274


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